2013 Acura ILX 5-Year Anniversary & 200,000th Milestone

Odometer (ILX): 200,015

Took me long enough, right?

It was Tuesday, June 12, 2012 when I got the key to my new 2013 Acura ILX 2.4 at Acura of Tempe, Arizona. The car, production #000082, was built just a few weeks prior at the Greensburg, Indiana manufacturing plant, and it was being outfitted that day with some accessories. John Watts, Acura’s Senior Manager of Digital Marketing at the time, gave me the key and I hit the road.

I drove off from the dealership with a camera crew in tow — we captured some scenes for this video in & around central Phoenix that Acura used in its launch marketing for the car:

The arrangement at the time with Acura – though, to my recollection, there was no formal contract in place – was that I would blog about the car for a year. And that I did. I’ve blogged it, in fact, for 5 years now. This blog has been viewed 516,000 times since that date, by 170,000 visitors. Those visitors have come from 155 different countries. The ILX Owners & Enthusiasts Facebook group I created has over 650 active members in it.

My ILX and I have had a good time together. We’ve seen 19 states including Alaska. I’ve driven both the highest and the lowest elevation paved roads in North America. We’ve survived an accident and lived to tell about it. And here we are today. So has Acura gotten its money’s worth out of my promotion? I’ll let them decide.

200,000 had been in my sights for a while. I first had the idea to roll the milestone on my 5-year anniversary of the car when I started thinking about it earlier this year. The timing and location of this specific roll-over was not critical, and in fact was pretty anti-climactic. It was a Monday, a workday, and I’d be catching up from my 4-day NALM weekend so it would have to be in the evening. I piled 3 friends into the car at the house around 6:30 p.m., sitting at 199,998 on the odometer.

We rolled up to Missouri Avenue, then east toward the Biltmore Mall on 24th Street. Following us were 2 other friends in a Nissan Rogue. The milestone came, I pulled over, and we celebrated by popping open a bottle of champagne – though, nobody drank any. In fact, it later ended up spilling over on the floor in the backseat and I was glad for those rubber all-weather floormats. It still made for fun video feature material.

Oh, and Derek brought Acura cigars. I wouldn’t know how to smoke one if I tried, so they were just for decoration.

Dinner was enjoyed at Blanco Tacos & Tequila, along with the typical ‘car banter’ that comprises most of my friends’ conversations any time we’re together. It was a great evening!

Detailed maintenance notes are pretty easy to summarize, since I’ve kept an Excel spreadsheet on the car’s history since the day I got it. In all, it’s received 27 oil changes with 0W20 synthetic oil and cost $7,169 to keep on the road. That cost excludes fuel, insurance, and registration. The cost-per-mile comes out to about 4 cents. Not bad, right? Included in those expenses are a recent $755 starter replacement which was my only “non-scheduled” maintenance item. I’m now on my 4th set of Michelin Pilot tires and probably just about ready for a 5th.

Here’s the detail from “new to now.”

The car will go to my brother Payton in southern Utah for a while, retired from daily duty here in Phoenix but still getting a few miles in someone else’s hands (and staying in the family). At this point my driving focus will shift to primarily to the 2007 TL, but with regularly scheduled stints in the other / older cars in the stable. I’d love to collaborate on another long-term test for Acura. Maybe they’d see fit to offer me an attractive lease on an RLX, or a TLX A-Spec?

This is a ‘teaser’ 6-second video of the rollover. My brother and I have a production in the works to more thoroughly document the milestone and some of my history with this car. Stay tuned in the coming weeks.

So, have I finally earned the right to ditch these ‘Student Driver’ magnets? 🙂

Congrats on 200k! I’ve enjoyed reading your posts about the ILX and the places it’s taken you. Sad to see it go, but glad you were able to find it a good home with your brother. Maybe he can guest blog some future milestones!

That sounds like a good idea. Commit him to blogging about the car, in the same manner that I committed to Acura. To take things a step further, maybe I could just pass the car around the country to a few of my favorite loyal readers and let them each have it / blog about it for 6 months? Would you want to participate? Haha

Congrats on 200k! It’s amazing how low maintenance that car has been compared to my wife’s 2013 Cruze ECO. Even though we have about 8 months of 100k warranty left that car has been bothersome from the start. Her next car will be a Honda or Acura for sure. Maybe an ILX or Accord 6MT.

I guess so! In the 2 months I’ve had that TL, I think I’ve put on about 600 miles. Definitely not been fully incorporated into my driving routine yet, been too busy with the ILX and the coupe. My GS is due back today. I bet Alex has put close to 4,000 on it in the last week.

That’s a thought – long term owner’s review – I’ll have to collect some ideas on that. The video that my brother and I are working on will capture some of that. The highs, the lows, the overall ownership experience and some of my observations. Hopefully it can be of value to others with the same model who are looking to hang onto it for the long haul.

Someone sent me a link to a 1996 Acura SLX – dark green with tan interior – locally for $2,500. For a few minutes I considered giving it a chance. But I think it’s too early to begin exploring new additions – I’ll enjoy what’s already in the garage!

Congrats! Honestly, this brings a tear to my eye as I’ve seen this little ILX go from White Sands in 2013 until just a few weeks ago. Hard not to get attached in that length of time and it’s been on every Tyson-Jason road trip except for Bisbee! I definitely think Acura got their money’s worth out of the deal. Looking forward to the many new adventures with what’s remaining in your stable. 🙂

Thanks Jason! And I’m sure the T-J road trips will continue, the nice thing is I’ll be changing up the rides a little more often. Guess I’ll just surprise you with whatever I decide to pull out of the garage each time. By the way, are you sticking around ‘Cruces for 4th of July weekend? I’m still figuring out plans.

Hard to believe that it took 4 years to get to this milestone. It seriously is a massive achievement. I certainly hope this ILX makes it to 500k miles in the next 10 years. At least now, you’ll see if the TL is up to the challenge.

Definitely. I actually plan on spreading the miles pretty evenly across the remaining 6 cars at the house. I’ve neglected to drive some of them much. I think the Integra sits just a few hundred miles from 240,000 so that might be my first daily duty dog.

Hi Carlos, exactly, prior to the ILX, I think my “newest” car was the 9 year old Legend coupe when I bought it in 2003 at 95,000 miles. So it was a pretty big deal for me to catch milestones in the ILX like 100, 1000, and so on. I’d never done that before. And you better believe I documented all of them! That’s so cool you’ve kept your TSX for 12 years. How many miles now? Are you going to drive it as far as Josh Clymer has driven his?

Yes. As a matter of fact, we have already begun preparations for celebrating our 555,555 milestones together. It will be within the next few months 🙂 It will take a lot of careful coordination but we are Mileage Masters and can pull it off!